U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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CENTRAL AND EASTERN AFRICA
IRIN-CEA Weekly Round-up 117
06 - 12 April 2002


CONTENTS:

DRC: ICD extended by a week, accord on military integration reached
DRC: Refugees International testifies before US Senate
DRC: Fighting between Banyamulenge and RCD continues
ROC: At least 15,000 IDPs in interior; 50,000 IDPs in capital
CAR-CHAD: Patasse and Deby of Chad meet, announce accord
RWANDA: Training of gacaca judges begins
RWANDA: Priest transferred to Arusha for trial
BURUNDI: Two-year peace consolidation programme launched
BURUNDI: Hutu party accuses gov't of stalling ceasefire talks
KENYA: Government tables new anti-corruption bill
TANZANIA: Rights group urges action on killings
UGANDA: Improving security increases IDP returns in west
CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA: Peace & development symposium held in Kampala

DRC: ICD extended by a week, accord on military integration reached

The inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD), due to officially end on Friday 12
April, has been extended for another week, it was announced on Thursday.

The Rwanda-backed rebel movement Rassemblement congolais pour la
democratie (RCD) on Thursday gave a cautious welcome to an amended
blueprint for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) proposed by South
African President Thabo Mbeki. "We can discuss them," said Azarias
Ruberwa, secretary-general of the RCD, referring to the latest proposals.
"The powers and attributions of new institutions and office holders are
better defined in this version," he said.

A previous version of Mbeki's proposals was rejected by both rebel
movements on Wednesday. The major difference with the new proposals is
that the latter assign to the rebel leaders national responsibility for
defence, security, finance, economy and the holding of elections
throughout the country. Another difference is that they drop a commitment
to appoint a minor rebel leader (who opposes the two main rebel movements,
RCD and the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo, MLC) as a vice prime
minister.

The latest proposals also spell out clearly that the Council of State, the
highest authority for issues relating to reunification, would only include
the president, Joseph Kabila, the two rebel leaders - Adolphe Onusumba of
the RCD and Jean Pierre Bemba of the MLC - and a prime minister to be
chosen by the unarmed opposition. The Council of State would also take
decisions by consensus.

The new proposals have not pleased the DRC government. On Thursday
morning, its spokesman, Vital Kamerhe, said that as far as the government
was concerned the dialogue was over, as it had lasted the scheduled 45
days. But in the afternoon, the government announced that its delegation
would remain at Sun City, after the dialogue facilitator, Ketumile Masire,
announced the extension of the talks up to 19 April.

Meanwhile, the government and rebel groups announced on Thursday that they
had agreed to integrate their armed forces, removing one of the main
stumbling blocks at the ICD. Moise Nyarugabo, head of the justice
department of the RCD, told Associated Press (AP) that the government
still needed to work out the size of the new national army, its command
structure and commanders, and the proportion of rebels and government
soldiers in its ranks. He added: "The government finally abandoned its
insistence that rebel forces be absorbed into its army and accepted that
our forces would be integrated as equals." [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27244]

DRC: Refugees International testifies before US Senate

Unless the prevailing insecurity is halted, there can be no sustainable
development in eastern DRC, Anne Edgerton, advocate at Refugees
International (RI) said on Monday in a testimony to the United States
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on African Affairs. In
her testimony on the current humanitarian crisis unfolding in the DRC, and
in her commentary on the kind of assistance the US could provide to
contribute to a peaceful, stable DRC, Edgerton stressed that security was
the single most important area for the international community to address.

After many interviews over the past three years, RI had found that
civilians in eastern parts of the country were increasingly at the mercy
of armed groups, including rebel forces backed by regional powers, the
Mayi-Mayi (Congolese militias), and the Interahamwe (exiled Rwandan Hutu
militias), who murdered civilians, raped women, captured children, and
stole crops with impunity, she said. She reported that much of the
violence still occurring in the east today was totally devoid of a
political or strategic rationale; it was banditry to allow unpaid soldiers
to survive. Edgerton said insecurity and lack of a functioning government
had opened eastern DRC to foreign interests involved in exploitation and
smuggling of primary products such as coltan, diamonds and timber. She
also noted that the insecurity severely and directly hampered the delivery
of emergency assistance.

The organisation recommended, among other things, that the US as a member
of the international community should ensure that the United Nations
Mission in the DRC (known by its French acronym, MONUC) fulfilled its
current mandate and supported the expansion of its troop presence in the
DRC. It recommended that the US increase investment in the UN Consolidated
Inter-Agency Appeal, with particular focus on infrastructure improvements
throughout the country, and support for humanitarian assistance in the
east. [The full report is at:
http://www.refintl.org/cgi-bin/ri/other?occ=00354&spotlight=1]

DRC: Fighting between Banyamulenge and RCD continues

The leader of a mutiny among Tutsi troops of the RCD was reportedly
surrounded on 4 April at Gasinda in South Kivu Province in eastern DRC.
Commandant Patrick Masunzu, who has for two months successfully resisted
attempts by RCD-Goma to suppress the mutiny, would find it difficult to
escape, a spokesman for the Congolese Tutsis in South Kivu, Enoch Sebeniza
Ruberangabo, told IRIN in Sun City, South Africa. "There was heavy
fighting again on Sunday [7 April]," he said. "Many people have been
killed."  He said there were divisions among Tutsis in the DRC, and
members of some clans were taking advantage of the ongoing insecurity to
settle scores. Ruberangabo is one of two Tutsi civil society
representatives at the ICD in Sun City.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has vowed to crush resistance by Masunzu's
combatants, most of whom are members of the Banyamulenge of South Kivu,
the Tutsi community with the longest history in the DRC - and a group
whose protection is one of the reasons for Rwanda's military presence in
the country. The Rwandan army was reported to have sent 1,500 soldiers to
attack the mutineers, who originally numbered "hundreds", said
Ruberangabo, but had since been joined by Banyamulenge villagers and other
ethnic groups in Kivu. Ruberangabo said that while the RCD had spoken of
some ex-Interahamwe Hutu militia joining Masunzu's ranks, the Rwandan
president had not accused the mutineers of an alliance with those guilty
of the 1994 genocide.

The security chief of the RCD, Bizima Karaha, has described Masunzu's
followers as "criminals and thugs", but Ruberangabo said Masunzu had been
the best protector of the Tutsis in South Kivu over the past three years.
He added that Masunzu had become the victim of a defamation campaign after
writing to the RCD appealing for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,
and warning that it could add to the risk of extermination of the Tutsi
community in the DRC.

ROC: At least 15,000 IDPs in interior; 50,000 IDPs in capital

At least 15,000 people remained displaced in Pool region and perhaps
50,000 in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo (ROC) on Wednesday
as a result of panic provoked by continued fighting in various localities
of the interior of Pool region and the Kinsoundi neighbourhood of
Brazzaville, UN agencies reported on Thursday. They cautioned, however,
that as most displacement sites cannot be reached due to insecurity, these
numbers may be higher.

In Brazzaville, tens of thousands fled the southern parts of the city
(Bacongo, Kinsoundi, Makelekele) on Wednesday night following low-grade
bombing in Kinsoundi during the afternoon. Although people were reported
to be returning in large numbers on Thursday, the population in Kinsoundi
remained trapped, according to humanitarian sources, because the army is
restricting movement in and out of the area.

"While the displaced are currently finding refuge within their extended
families, this is creating a significant burden on populations already
living, for the most part, with the bare minimum," UN Resident and
Humanitarian Coordinator William Paton told IRIN. "It is a concern that
families may not be able to absorb the displaced for a prolonged period of
time."

Petrol is reportedly available in the capital, but in very limited
quantities, with long queues at the city's fuel stations. Prices of local
produce (fruits, manioc, vegetables) have increased, in some cases almost
doubling. Numerous incidents of looting have been reported, and check
points were set up throughout Brazzaville on Wednesday night by army,
police, special forces and militias.

Although Paton noted that "considerable efforts have been made by
authorities to assure people that the situation is under control," the UN
security management team has recommended that all missions to Brazzaville
be suspended until further notice.

Humanitarian groups, meanwhile, expressed concern that the Congolese
government has adopted an aggressive approach to the current situation,
favouring vigorous pursuit of military solutions rather than negotiations;
the arrival of a special unit of Angolan soldiers in Pool region and
Brazzaville has caused further concern among some of these organisations.

Hostilities erupted in ROC at the end of March, when several government
military positions in Pool region were reportedly attacked by so-called
"Ninja" militias, according to official sources. Ninja representatives hav
e countered that the clashes were provoked when they discovered government
plans to arrest their leader, the Rev Frederic Bitsangou (alias Ntoumi).
The ROC government claims that the Kingouari section of Makelekele is an
area with a high concentration of former Ninja militiamen who were
demobilised following the peace agreements of 1999, which effectively
brought years of repeated civil wars to a conclusion. During the afternoon
of Tuesday 9 April, Brazzaville police launched a sweep of these southern
neighbourhoods in search of illegal arms and former Ninjas, whom they
feared could be awaiting a signal from Ntoumi to launch an offensive in
the capital. Shots were at some point fired by the police - "harmless
warning shots", according to officials - which led to widespread panic
among an urban population already unnerved by reports of extensive rebel
activity in interior regions west and northwest of the capital. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27234]

CAR-CHAD: Patasse and Deby of Chad meet, announce accord

President Ange-Felix Patasse of the Central African Republic (CAR) on
Wednesday met President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital, N'djamena, to
discuss ongoing tensions between the two countries, Radiodiffusion
Nationale Tchadienne reported. Problems first arose in November 2001 when
CAR government forces tried to arrest the CAR former army commander, Gen
Francois Bozize, on behalf of a judicial commission probing the coup
attempt of 28 May 2001. Bozize refused to comply with the arrest warrant,
asserting that he had not been given sufficient safety guarantees.

Bozize had been dismissed as army chief of staff on 26 October 2001 after
being accused of involvement in a coup plot. He denied involvement at the
time, saying he had backed Patasse during army mutinies of 1996 and 1997.
Soldiers allied to Bozize came to his defence, and five days of
intermittent fighting in the northern region of the capital, Bangui,
ensued before Bozize and his forces were dislodged and fled northward to
the southern Chadian town of Sarh. The CAR authorities then accused Chad
of backing Bozize and his supporters, who repeatedly engaged in
confrontations with CAR military forces along the two nations' common
border. Chad later granted Bozize asylum out of "humanitarian concern", an
official of the Chadian Ministry of Communications told IRIN in January.

Centrafrique-Presse reported that after their two-hour meeting on
Wednesday, Patasse and Deby announced the immediate reopening of their
common border, and stated that outstanding issues would be addressed by a
bilateral commission of experts and parliamentarians. Also attending the
talks were UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General to CAR, Gen
Lamine Cisse, and the Libyan minister in charge of African affairs and the
Community of Sahel-Saharan States representative, Abd al-Salam Ali
al-Turayki. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27230]

RWANDA: Training of gacaca judges begins

On Monday, the training began of almost 255,000 judges who will preside in
Rwanda's gacaca courts - a form of popular or traditional justice for
those accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide. All but the highest
category of genocide crimes will be judged by these courts. A total of 781
gacaca instructors were trained between 4 February and 14 March, all of
them magistrates or final year law students, Hirondelle reported. The
trainees are known as "les integres", as they were chosen by their own
communities as being people with integrity.

Since 1996, Rwandan law has divided genocide suspects into four
categories, who will be judged at four administrative levels by the gacaca
courts, according to Hirondelle. Category four consists of those accused
of looting or destroying victims' property during the genocide; category
three of those defined as "the person who has committed or became
accomplice of serious attacks without the intention of causing death to
victims"; category two of those accused of killing; and category one of
those accused of rape and other sexual torture. Neither accused nor victim
has the right to counsel, nor has the accused any right to appeal against
the categorisation of his or her crime, a designation with great
consequences in relation to possible punishments. Those assigned to
category one will be sentenced to death if found guilty.

The gacaca training process would last six weeks, with each group
receiving two days of training in basic principles of law (especially in
relation to the January 2001 gacaca law), group management, conflict
resolution, judicial ethics, trauma, human resources, and equipment and
financial management, Hirondelle reported. Following this, lists of
victims and suspects would be drawn up, and 12 pilot trials would be
organised. The trials would then be extended so that every part of the
country would have begun within two months of the pilot trials, Hirondelle
said. The official budget for the gacaca system is about US $13 million.

In March 2001, the Rwandan attorney-general issued a revised list of
genocide suspects, or those charged with the worst crimes, HRW said. About
800 people had been added to the previous list, issued in 1999, bringing
the total to nearly 2,900. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27209]

RWANDA: Priest transferred to Arusha for trial

A Rwandan former priest, Hormidas Nsengimana, was on Wednesday transferred
from Yaounde, Cameroon, where he was arrested last month, to the UN
Detention Facility in Arusha, Tanzania. According to a news release from
the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Nsengimana is
the fifth clergyman to be arrested at the request of the Tribunal on
charges connected with the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

Nsengimana, a former priest and rector of Christ-Roi College in Nyanza,
Nyabisundi commune, in the southern Butare Prefecture of Rwanda, is
charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against
humanity for murder and extermination. Nsengimana is alleged to have playe
d a leading role in a group of killers called Les Dragons (or Escadron de
la mort), a group which reputedly played a crucial role in the killing of
Tutsis in Butare Prefecture.

BURUNDI: Two-year peace consolidation programme launched

To support Burundi's peace process and to provide timely assistance, the
United States Agency for International Development-Office of Transition
Initiatives (USAID/OTI) initiated a two-year programme in March 2002. A
statement from USAID dated 5 April said the programme aimed to support the
transition to peace and democracy as articulated in the Arusha Peace and
Reconciliation Accord (APRA) by building momentum for the implementation
of the accord and by promoting a culture of peace and justice. To achieve
the objectives, USAID/OTI was supporting a six-month assistance programme
to enhance the Burundian legislature's role in promoting peace and
reconciliation, it said.

"The National Democratic Institute [NDI] and the International Republican
Institute [IRI] will work closely with Burundi's national assembly and the
senate in order to enhance awareness among Burundian legislators of their
roles and responsibilities in APRA, and to increase dialogue and
cooperation among legislators from different political parties," the
statement said. The programme would also encourage representatives to
undertake outreach initiatives designed to promote public dialogue and
participation, it added.

The two institutes [NDI and IRI] will organise an orientation conference
for legislators from both chambers; conduct thematic training workshops to
facilitate legislators' understanding of their roles and responsibilities;
and enhance the internal communication capacity of the legislature to
better inform Burundians on its role as a national institution and a
catalyst for peace and reconciliation in the country.

Another aspect to be implemented is the Burundi Initiative for Peace,
which, according to the statement, will be implemented with the support of
the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES). IFES would
provide a series of small grants to encourage popular support for APRA and
for the transitional government, the statement said, adding that it would
work in targeted geographic areas to support activities which maintained
the momentum for peace. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27181]

BURUNDI: Hutu party accuses gov't of stalling ceasefire talks

The main Hutu opposition party, Front pour la democratie au Burundi
(FRODEBU), has criticised the country's transitional government for
failing to come up with a clear plan on negotiations for a ceasefire with
Hutu rebels, AP reported. It reported the party's secretary-general,
Leonce Ngendakumana, as dismissing government claims that it still had to
figure out who the "real belligerents" were.  In a statement on 5 April,
he said the government "knows precisely" whom to blame, and should "stop
attending meetings with false belligerents", AP reported, adding that he
had also criticised the government's claim that it was willing to
negotiate at the same time it continued military buildup.

"FRODEBU is surprised that the government says in its triennial report
that there is no programme of negotiation, no strategy, no interlocutors,"
AFP quoted Ngendakumana as saying. "The president and vice-president made
commitments in Arusha, and these should be respected," he added. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27154]

KENYA: Government tables new anti-corruption bill

The Kenyan government recently introduced a bill in parliament to
establish a new independent body to fight corruption in the country.
However, the new body - the Kenya Corruption Control Authority (KCCA) -
would need sufficient powers vested in it not only to investigate but also
to prosecute offenders if it is to be effective, according to a government
policy analyst. Local media reported on 4 April that the attorney-general
had tabled the bill seeking to establish the KCCA, which, if created,
would assume the functions of the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority
(KACA) as well as the recently established Kenya Anti-Corruption Police
Units.

Jeremiah Owiti, who heads the governance and development programme of the
Nairobi-based Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), told IRIN
on Tuesday that the new bill - dubbed the Corruption Control Bill 2002 -
as it stands currently, gives the proposed anti-corruption body only
investigative powers, while prosecutorial powers would continue to remain
with the attorney-general, hence rendering it less effective for pursuing
economic crimes. "I want to believe that there will be a consensus in
parliament to set up a constitutional office to tackle corruption. What
could be a sticking point would be the prosecutorial powers of the body.
Currently, all the prosecutorial powers are in the hands of the
attorney-general," Owiti said.

Owiti dismissed the new anti-corruption bill as "a public relations
exercise" aimed at diverting growing local and international pressure on
the government to act on graft. "Locally, the public, and even the
parliament, have been vocal on pressing the government to act on graft,
while internationally, the Bretton Woods institutions are making
corruption a precondition for releasing any more cash for development and
recurrent expenditure to the government," he said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27194]

TANZANIA: Rights group urges action on killings

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday called on the commission of inquiry
into killings that occurred during political clashes in Zanzibar over a
year ago to move quickly to bring those responsible to justice. "Not until
a year after these shocking events did the Tanzanian government appoint a
commission of inquiry," said Peter Takirambudde, the executive director of
the Africa division of HRW. "We welcome that decision, but urge the
commission to move quickly to gather the evidence necessary to bring those
responsible to justice."

Violence erupted in the semi-autonomous Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar
and Pemba on 26 and 27 January last year when the opposition Civic United
Front (CUF) organised demonstrations demanding a rerun of the October 2000
elections, which local and international observers deemed to have been
flawed. At least 22 people were shot dead on Pemba island, allegedly by
armed police, "in circumstances suggesting unlawful use of lethal force",
according to the rights organisation Amnesty International. According to
HRW, however, Tanzanian security forces killed at least 35 people during
the violence.

Following the institution of multiparty politics in Tanzania in 1992, the
CUF emerged as one of the country's largest opposition parties, and the
most heavily supported party in the Zanzibar archipelago, HRW said. Both
the multiparty elections of 1995 and of 2000 were won narrowly on Zanzibar
by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, but marred by complaints of
voter registration irregularities and other abuses of the electoral
process. Following an agreement between the CCM and CUF on 10 October
2001, an eight-member commission of inquiry was appointed in January 2002
to investigate the Zanzibar clashes. The commission, chaired by retired
Brig Hashim Mbita, is to probe the "causes and effects" of the violence,
and present its findings by 31 July 2002. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27201]

UGANDA: Improving security increases IDP returns in west

Improving security in western Uganda has allowed increasing numbers of
IDPs in the Rwenzori region to return voluntarily to their homes,
according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. "It is very satisfying to see more
concrete examples of IDPs returning home and organisations concentrating
their efforts in the areas of return, rather than cementing efforts in the
[IDP] camps," OCHA said in its latest humanitarian update.

Despite some minor incidents along the border with the DRC, efforts were
under way between the district administrations of Bundibugyo, Kasese and
Kabarole to organise the transportation of IDPs back to their homes, OCHA
stated in its March report. "This commendable effort is done on the
initiative of the districts themselves. District officials in Bundibugyo
are actively encouraging IDPs to return home, and so far the process is
going on gradually," OCHA said. Following an intensified campaign by the
Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) against Allied Democratic Forces
(ADF) rebels, the government announced in November 2001 that IDPs in the
west could return to their homes. At that time, some 70,000 people had
been forced to live in displacement camps as a result of attacks by the
ADF.

In northern Uganda, however, rising insecurity linked to a government
offensive against Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) appeared to
have hindered plans for the dismantling of camps housing several hundred
thousand IDPs, OCHA said. With the deployment of large numbers of Ugandan
troops against LRA bases in southern Sudan, and the consequent dilution of
the army's presence in Gulu District, the security situation in the
district had "deteriorated sharply" during March, OCHA reported. [Full
report at: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27179]

CENTRAL & EASTERN AFRICA: Peace & development symposium held in Kampala

A three-day symposium on the Great Lakes region opened on Monday in the
Ugandan capital, Kampala, news organisations reported. Inaugurating it,
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said the tragedies of countries in the
Great Lakes region were the result of ideological obscurantism,
manipulation by colonialists to divide and rule, and the failure by
colonial and post-colonial regimes to transform their countries
industrially, Radio Uganda quoted him as saying. The radio said the
symposium, jointly organised by the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation and the
Ugandan government, and supported by the Tanzanian government, was
dedicated to the former president of Tanzania, the late Julius Nyerere,
for his contribution towards eliminating colonialism in southern Africa
and neo-colonialists like former Ugandan president Idi Amin.

The theme of the symposium was "reinforcing the region's solidarity by
setting a regional agenda for a culture of peace, unity and people-centred
development". It brings together Burundi, Rwanda, the DRC, Kenya, Uganda
and Tanzania. The New Vision government-owned newspaper reported that
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Botswana and South Africa would also be
represented. It said 28 papers would be presented for discussion, and
these would centre on six key themes, namely peace and security, regional
stability and democratic governance, participation, empowerment and
people-centred development, regional food security, and nutrition and
health care.

On Thursday, The New Vision reported that Burundi and its neighbour
Rwanda, which had applied to be admitted to the East African Community
(EAC), were waiting for a response on the matter during the symposium. It
quoted EAC Secretary-General Amanya Mushega as telling participants that
the EAC's council of ministers had considered the applications. He said he
would report the council's decision to the EAC heads of State on Friday,
and thereafter notify Burundi and Rwanda. The EAC presently consists of
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Burundi President Pierre Buyoya, who addressed the symposium, said
countries in the region had no choice but to be together in order to have
meaningful development and stability, the paper said. He also called for
the establishment of a permanent regional security body to address
conflicts before they "get out of hand". He said the region lacked the
necessary structures of addressing and following problems of peace and
stability, adding that it was important that the war-torn region
established structures to deal with conflicts, which had become a major
concern, the paper said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27228]

However, the admission of Burundi and Rwanda to the EAC was subsequently
delayed, The New Vision Ugandan government-owned newspaper quoted Jikaya
Kikwete as announcing on behalf of the EAC Council of Ministers on
Thursday. "The council felt strongly that ultimately the Community may
have to include those two countries. However, the council was of the view
that this was not the appropriate moment for Rwanda and Burundi to be
admitted," the council's report, which was later adopted by the presidents
of the three East African countries, said.

It said the community was still in a formative stage and it would not be
prudent to admit new members now, the paper said. The ministers said the
admission should be made after the protocol for the establishment of a
customs union had been finalised, signed and made operational. "At that
time, the application of Rwanda, Burundi and other foreign countries would
be considered," the report said. [Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27245]


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